The National Teacher Training Center for the Health Professions (NTTCHP) celebrated its 45th founding anniversary on January 27, 2020 at the UP Manila Museum of A History of Ideas.
“NTTC-HP was envisioned as part of a grand plan of the World Health Organization (WHO) to elevate the effectiveness of education in the health sciences worldwide and was established in the University of the Philippines Manila,” said NTTCHP Dean Dr. Melflor A. Atienza. The UP Board of Regents approved its creation on January 30, 1975.
“A reputable university needs teachers to continuously train its faculty. It is something that I believe that every university must have and we are very lucky that in UP Manila we have the National Teachers Training for the Health Profession,” stated Chancellor Carmencita Padilla in her message.
She stated that being a WHO Regional Educational Development Center in the Western Pacific Region, NTTCHP’s responsibility is training not only the faculty in the Philippines but also other teachers in the world.
Chancellor Padilla challenged the NTTCHP to be more relevant, to make sure it is ten steps ahead than the rest of the world, and produce hundreds more of students in the next decade who are trained in Universal Health Care.
For her part, former NTTCHP Dean Erlyn Sana declared that the NTTC-HP has become responsive and a pioneer in innovations in the health profession education setting as she presented the milestones in the NTTCHP history. She announced that by the next school year with the final approval of the UP Manila University Council and UP Board of Regents, NTTCHP will be facing a new track of its ladderized curriculum; a reconfigured Master of Health Profession Education which is a blended learning platform, and a new outcome-based PhD program in health professions education. She added that the new track is a testimony to the usefulness of the original program.
“We would like to say that even if we don’t have a building yet, in 45 years, we have built individuals and persons with character,” Dr. Sana emphasized, citing the NTTCHP’s total of 290 diploma and master’s degree graduates and a retention rate of 93.73% as of the end of AY 2019-2020.
The conference that marked the celebration discussed technology in education. Former dean and Prof. Nemuel Fajutagana talked about the virtual learning environment. Dean Atienza discussed iTuro, a Blended Learning course under the Academic Program Improvement Project of the UP Manila Interactive Learning Center while Dr. Antonio Miguel Dans tackled the topic “Managing Online Resources.”
During the celebration, NTTCHP recognized the organizations and institutions that assisted in fulfilling its goals and achievements. These are the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges, Philippine Tuberculosis Society Inc., Philippine Coalition Against Tuberculosis, Cebu Institute of Medicine, Health Human Resources Development Bureau of the Department of Health (DOH), UP-PGH Child Protection Unit, Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, Health Policy Development and Planning Bureau of DOH, Dr. Corazon Paulino Gonzalez Memorial Foundation Inc., and World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific Office.
As part of its 45th anniversary, the NTTCHP also revived its official newsletter, the “Health Professions Educator” that will be published quarterly. Formerly named the “Health Professions Teacher,” the newsletter’s name was changed to signify its faculty members’ passion for their craft as educators.
CHARMAINE LINGDAS | Published in UP Manila Healthscape Issue 378
